The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-04-01
HINTS ON LINEN.


Acceptable to Lovers OF Fine Sheets.
Linen sheeting comes in various quail
tiles, widths and makes. There are
Irish, Scotch, English and German
linens, each having its points of excel
lence and its more or less ardent sup
porters There is very wide range
of values in these goods, the prices vary
ing from 70 cents to So. 80 per yard, ac-
cording to fineness, weight and general
finish
Linens may be very fine and yet very
heavy, the threads being round, firm
and closely woven, or they may be
heavy and strong, but more loosely
placed, making a thicker but not as
durable an article as the finer woven
y..ades. 1t is great mistake to choose
very fine linen for sheets. 1t will never
stay in place, but will roll up and get
''stringy," and after repeated efforts to
keep it in place the user giyes up in
despair and declares that ''linen sheet
ing is a failure" If she will select q
good grade of sheeting that is well
worth about 90 cents to $1.25 per yard,
she will ever after believe in it.
The special novelty in linen sheeting
is thick, fine twilled goods, regular
linen Saline, which is by far the most
elegant fabric of the sort ever brought
out. 1t combines all of the qualities
most desirable in goods of high grade.
1t has sufficient body to stay in place,
is exquisitely smooth and satiny to the
touch and almost as glossy as silk. 1t
comes two and half yards wide, and
has pillow and bolster case linens to
match. Altogether it is one of the
most perfect fabrics in market, and
in spite of its rather high Cost is an
economical Investment as it is espe-
cially durable and handsome,
In making sheets it is well to allow
little more than the regu ar two and
one-half yards in length. Most of the
best housekeepers add to this from
one-fourths to three-eights of yard,
this being often the length after the
hens are ne. Two and three
fourths y - for finished
sheet is generally sufficient unless the
bedstead is extra size. The linen
should never be cut straight across the
niece 1t is frequently the case that
regular lines during the process of
calendering and putting up, and to cut
across the fold as the dealer cuts it
from the piece is often to waste three
or four inches in the frightening,
which all jUdiciOus housewives will
! look after In the purchase of single
pair of sheets allowance must be made
for this irregularity, else the finished
articles will be quite too short.
| However much the fabric may be
drawn it will come straight after
laundering, provided care is taken in
hanging the sheets upon the line, and
vigorously shaking and swapping them
both before drying and while they
are yet damp. All linen arti-
cles should be taken from the line while
yet damp, thoroughly shaken and pulled
straightway of the goods, rolled up in
damp cloths and ironed until perfectly
dry The irons should be quite hot, but
carefully tempered, as linen is more
easily scorched than cotton, and once
| Drowned it's durability is destroyed.
| 1t is we'll to hem the corners by hand,
over-seam the ends of the hens very
firmly, and then stitch the hens on a
| lock-stitch machine, running around
| the ends of the hens to the doubled
| edge of the cloth. Done in this way,
| there is very little danger of hens
breaking out until the sheets are worn
| threadbare Where sheets wear thin
in the middle they may be cut through
lengthwise, hemmed and over-seamed
! together at what was originally their
outer edges. In this way they will last
through many more changes and
| launderings for the extra work. Many
old-time househeepers make this their
regular practice with sheets. of all
sorts.
| HENS should be about two inches
wide upon the end at the head of the
bed, and about three-fourths Of an inch
wide for the foot end. Ladies with
plenty of leisure and a taste for such
work hem-stitch the wide end hem very
deliberately, giving it almost the APP
pearance of drawn work. The narrow
hem may be plain or may have a single
row of hem-stitching. Pillow and
bolster cases may be similarly finished;
the latter are rarely more than single
-fenl-stitched, however, while pillow
cases are often very deliberately done.
For regular use this is scarcely COM
mendable, as the drawing out of so
many threads weakens the fabric and
makes the articles less durable
! Decorator and FaGr71iSber.
&-o3